Delaware State, Morgan State hold first collegiate match at ITRC

The Delaware State and Morgan State women's bowling teams had the opportunity to kick off their 2010-11 season by competing at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas, on Monday.

It was the first collegiate match to be contested at the ITRC, which is located at the International Bowling Campus. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference teams were crossing paths in Arlington as each had scheduled training sessions with ITRC head coach Rod Ross and his staff.

"It was phenomenal," Delaware State coach Ricki Ellison said of the matchup. "It was so much fun, especially being able to go up against Morgan State, who is someone we see quite often because they are in our conference. We're good friends with their entire team. Going up against them was truly an honor."

Delaware State won the opening five-player match, 907-849. Nicole Bower had a 203 game to lead the Hornets. Delaware State also took the four-game Baker match, 669-653. To watch the match that was streamed live on BOWL.com, click here.

James Brown, coach of the Baltimore, Md.-based Morgan State team, has three freshmen competing and said the matches helped those players learn collegiate competition is little different than high school.

"You tend to make some mistakes you wouldn't normally make," Brown said. "They learned a lot from this. I think we'll have a really good team."

The match concluded Morgan State's training stop at the ITRC.

"Everything they have here ... the girls learned a lot," Brown said. "The important thing is for them to follow through and develop."

Morgan State senior Ashley Milbourne said she learned not only about her game but also how to break down lane conditions and how to build an arsenal of bowling balls.

"We did data analysis where they recorded us and it was different," Milbourne said. "I actually got to see what I was doing wrong. Hopefully, I can stick with what I learned and take it to the lanes."

Bower is looking forward to Delaware State's training sessions at the ITRC this week.

"I'm really happy we got to come down here and do this," Bower said. "As team-building, it's really good. We have a lot of new people so it's definitely good we can come here and get this experience together and improve our games."

Two more collegiate matches are scheduled for the ITRC next month. Prairie View A&amp;M will face Maryland Eastern Shore on Oct. 10 at 9 a.m. Eastern, and Stephen F. Austin takes on Sam Houston State on Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Each match is scheduled to be shown live on BOWL.com.